Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Much credit is due.

by Lisa Y. Henderson

ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION OF A SLAVE.

The Schr. Dolphin, Samuel Salyear master of this port, left here 15 days ago bound for New York. Shortly after leaving the bar, the cook, James Corbell, a free colored man, seeing one of the crew, a colored man, frequently carrying water down the hold, suspected something was wrong and communicated his suspicions to the captain, who ordered the mate to make search; who on examination found a slave man secreted in the hold, named Edward, belonging to the estate of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Justice of this town. The boy had been concealed on board through the agency of two free colored men, TomFortune and Furny Moore, two of the crew. The captain immediately put into Norfolk Va., where the Dolphin arrived on the 10th instant. The captain immediately brought the case before the Mayor, and upon examination Edward was committed to jail to await the requisition of his owner, and Fortune and Moore were committed for trial for the abduction of the slave. Their trial of course must take place here, and the Governor of our State will demand them from the State of Virginia, Much credit is due the captain and the cook for their promptness in this matter. The above particulars we gather mostly from the Norfolk Herald of the 12th instant. Newbernian.

The North-Carolina Star (Raleigh), 28 July 1847.

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SUPERIOR COURT.

The fall term of Superior Court for this county was held last week. The most important case tried was that of a free negro sailor, Tom Fortune, for his life, charged with aiding a slave to escape into a free state. The slave was discovered in the hold of the vessel after she had got to sea, when the Captain put into Norfolk and lodged in jail the slave and the negros suspected of assisting him to escape. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, the testimony not being sufficient to prove that he knew the slave was on board until he was discovered at sea. Messrs. Stevenson and Sparrow were employed on the defence.

Meta

Researcher -- and descendant -- of North Carolina's free people of color.
See also my genealogy blog at www.scuffalong.com and www.afamwilsonnc.com, which documents the African-American history of Wilson County NC.